So Clichè
by seasidehearts
Summary: To escape the clichè-ness of Valentine's Day, Kairi escapes to the kids' island only to find herself caught up in exactly what she was trying to avoid. Sokai one-shot seasonal.


**I'm going to make it a tradition of writing seasonal one-shots now. I've really had bad writer's block for Fractured Love, so I needed something productive to do…So I wrote this along with You and Me and One Spotlight.**

**Sorry if Kairi's thought's don't seem too in character. They're like my exacts thoughts on Valentine's day and like how I'm so eager to have a love life but no one seems good enough. Etc, etc.**

**Hope you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own KH.**

x.O.x

So Cliché

x.O.x

Everyone seemed to be paired off come Valentine's day; Kairi had noticed this every year and it was almost enough to make her sick to her stomach. Selphie had Tidus, Riku had…that girl. He went though so many girlfriends, Kairi was never exactly sure of their names. _Wakka_ even had a girlfriend this year; some girl named Lulu. It wouldn't even be surprising if her dorky best friend, Sora, had miraculously found a girl for the occasion.

Escaping out her backdoor, Kairi ventured out to the docks and readied her little row boat. Everyone would be too occupied with their significant others to go out to the kid's island. She'd surely have some peace of mind there.

Rowing the paddles of her boat, she ignored the crimson hair that blew into her face from the island breeze, merely sighing, "It makes no sense how I always look forward to this holiday and always end up disappointed…"

Sure, Kairi was often asked out and received lots of valentines day cards from random guys. But it didn't even matter to her that she did because none of them were _right. _To be honest, she didn't even know _right_ was. She figured she would feel it, though. Maybe she would be satisfied if some sort of angel dropped out of the sky and claimed to love her.

"That's pointless to wish for." The girl heaved another sigh. Looking up again to see the island in a much closer view, she could see the outline of a figure on the shore. "Great…" She mumbled to herself as she kept her steady rhythm of rowing.

Whoever it was, they seemed to pay her no mind as she reached the dock. Fumbling with the rope to tie her boat down for a few moments, Kairi quietly climbed atop the dock to peep at the person and see who they were. His clothes mostly black with many un-needed yellow buckles and gravity defying hair, Kairi didn't even need to think to identify the boy.

Assuming he was asleep, she made her way over to hem without an attempt to quiet her steps. Only dragging herself half the distance through the sand, Kairi stopped as she saw one of his sapphire eyes blink open to find her. Sitting up and dusting the sand off of his jacket, he gave a sheepish grin as he greeted, "Hey, Kairi."

Walking again to her intended destination, Kairi sat on her knees beside the boy, answering, "Hi, Sora." She knew she would later regret sitting on her knees in the sand. Once she got up she would have little grains of sand embedded in her skin. That was the price she paid for wearing a dress; even if she did love it dearly.

Giving her a curious look over, he tilted his head and inquired, "What are you doing out _here_?"

"I could ask you the same thing." She stated with a raise of her eyebrows as she looked to him.

"I asked first." He grinned again; directly at her so that her heart did a flip-flop.

Keeping her outer composure, she let out a faked sigh and answered, "Alright. Well, it's just…" She trailed off, twiddling her thumbs in embarrassment.

Staring intently, he repeated curiously, "Just…?"

"Don't laugh at me or I'll hate you forever." The girl warned with a glare.

Placing a hand over his heart, Sora nodded as he promised, "I won't." He kept a serious expression as to encourage Kairi to finish her explanation.

"It seems like everyone's always happy on Valentine's day except for me. I get a lot of cards and whatever, but I don't _want_ them. It's like I'm suppose to be happy like everyone else and I can't be. Like I'm cursed." The crimson haired girl drew lines in the sand with her finger as she spoke, looking up to the boy as she finished. Sora still had the mostly serious expression for a moment before he cracked a smile. Huffing and crossing her arms, Kairi looked away and exclaimed, "_Sora_! You promised you wouldn't! I don't know why I even bother talking to you about some things."

"No, no," He placed a hand lightly on her shoulder in apology, defending, "I was smiling 'cause it's weird…I kinda think the same thing."

"So that's the same reason you're out here?" She turned back to face him as she asked her question, showing that he was forgiven.

Shrugging, Sora answered, "More or less." Chuckling a bit, he added, "Besides, I didn't wanna see Riku or you all over someone. _Gross_." He stuck out his tongue and made a gagging noise.

Laughing herself, she still reached out to hit him playfully and retort, "Not like we'd want to see you, either."

Rolling his eyes, Sora scoffed and replied, "Psh. You'd probably be more like 'Ohmygod, Sora has his first girlfriend? How _cute!' _and Riku's reaction would be about the same, just worded different."

"I would _not_," She gave a pout and added, "Besides, it's not like I can really say anything."

"You went though quite a few boyfriends in middle school, if I remember correctly." Sora stated almost in a grumble as he fell backwards into the sand.

Her eye twitching a bit as she recalled middle school memories, she bit her lip and stared out into the ocean as she concluded, "Those don't count, though."

"Still more than I got." He answered, his gaze glued to the sky.

"Ask someone out, then." She gave an amused smile as she turned back to look at him. '_Funny how the idea seems amusing yet still hurts me at the same time_.' She commented to herself.

"It's not that easy." He still stared into the clouds. Kairi was merely a voice to him this way; it was easier to talk.

Falling back next to him, she turned her head and asked, "Why not?"

"Rejection." Sora stated simply, his expression unchanging.

"You say you have just as many 'admirers' as I do and you're scared of _rejection_?" Kairi squinted at him in disbelief, giving a little laugh at how he was managing to make such a simple concept difficult for himself.

Flickering his eyes in Kairi's direction for a split second, Sora turned his head the opposite direction and answered, "She's different."

'_So there's one specific girl, huh?' _Kairi thought bitterly, flipping through mental pictures of all the girls that she knew at the school. With the little clues Sora had given her, she could not narrow it down to any single girl. Biting her lip in curiosity, she further questioned, "So there's actually a girl who _isn't_ all over you now that everyone knows you're the hero of the universe?"

"Yep." Sora chuckled, then folded his arms behind his head with a sigh.

"She must be stupid." The crimson haired girl concluded, giving a grin to her best friend.

At this, Sora gave a broad smirk. "Maybe." He added. Turning over and making eye contact with her for the first time in a few minutes, he questioned, "So what about you?"

"What?" She squinted her eyes in confusion.

"Your perfect guy or whatever." He clarified with a roll of his eyes before looking back to her for her answer.

Raising her hand to her forehead, she closed her eyes and massaged her temple, mumbling, "I don't even know…"

"Not even qualities?" Sora gave her a look of suspicion and disbelief.

Sitting up and staring out into the ocean, she relayed, "Well, I want basically the same thing as anyone would. Kind, caring, funny, a gentleman…" She trailed off before stating, "There's a lot of guys that meet most of those but I don't know…I just don't see myself with them?" She dragged out the sentence so that it came out as a question. She wasn't exactly sure how to word it, and the fact that she was discussing this with her guy best friend wasn't making it any easier.

"Ah." Sora acknowledged, sitting up too. Letting a moment of silence pass, he jumped up onto his feet and held out a hand for Kairi, "Well, c'mon; enough with this 'love' stuff. That's what we came out here to get away from, right?"

"Right," She answered with a grin as she took his hand.

Sora, underestimating the strength he had gained from his travels, pulled Kairi a little too strongly so that she knocked into him. Arms flying out in reflex to catch her, Sora quickly retreated his hands as he felt her body heat against him. Taking a step back and feeling a blush rising in his cheeks, Sora started at his feet and muttered, "Ah, sorry."

Giggling more out of nervousness then actually finding the situation funny, Kairi stated, "It's okay." Turning away to change the subject, the girl gave a sigh that was somewhat faked, "Why does it have to February still? I'm really in the mood to go out in the water."

Stepping forward and taking a place at her side, he gave a slight shrug as he pointed out, "We can still go out a little bit; you just have to make sure you don't stay in too long."

"Okay, let's go!" Kairi immediately grabbed the boy's hand and pulled him towards the ocean. Allowing himself to be dragged away rather than put up a futile argument with her, they both stood staring at the water lapping onto shore. "It's gonna be so cold…" The girl whined as she took her hand back and began to remove her shoes, throwing them onto the sand behind her once she was done. The water almost reaching her now bare feet, Kairi let out a shriek and jumped backwards.

With a laugh, Sora reclaimed her hand in his and grinned as he suggested, "We'll both go in at once."

Nodding, she began to count, "One…two…_three_!" Ice water splashing against her calves made her let out an even louder squeak then before.

Of course, Sora had to rub it in. "Not as bad as I expected." The boy gave a shrug as if it were nothing, though she could tell he was trying hard to not show that his teeth were chattering together. She, however, found herself to be quickly adjusting to the cold water. After a few minutes, she even found herself comfortable enough to wander out a little further. "That's probably not a good idea, Kairi." The brunette gave her a disapproving frown, wincing as the water seeped through a higher level of his pants due to his readjusted positioning.

"Why?" She laughed a small amount of water towards him. Kairi had to admit she kind of liked when he worried about her.

Shaking the water off and taking a step closer, he held out his hand and stated seriously, "If you fall, your clothes are going to be drenched and you'll be miserable with the winter air blowing against you."

Running a hand back and forth through the water, Kairi replied confidently, "I won't _fall_. I have balance, unlike some people."

Rolling his bright sapphire eyes, Sora took another step towards her while he pointed out, "I'm just trying to keep you from getting sick. Now, c'mon; we've probably already been in the water for too long."

"Nuh-uh." She stuck out her tongue and grinned, taking a step backwards in defiance.

Though he usually found her childish behavior to be cute, her actions couldn't be more aggravating to him at this moment. Giving a deeper frown, Sora called out desperately, "_Kairi. _Please?"

Laughing again, the girl gave a roll of her own eyes as she made her way back towards him, teasing, "Geez, you can be such a baby." No sooner than she had finished her sentence, Kairi stumbled over a sand dune and fell into the shallow water with a splash. Though her head was still above water, her clothes as well as the bottom of her hair was now soaked in salt water. Already feeling the bitter winter wind against her, it was almost enough to make her cry.

Nothing _ever_ went right on Valentine's day.

Helping her up, Sora pulled her close to him and quietly led her to shore. "Here, let's go in the secret place to get you out of the wind."

She desperately wanted to cry out, '_No!_' as she knew the awkwardness that awaited from that drawing. '_But would I rather die or get really sick_?' She questioned bitterly, finally managing to spit out, "O-okay." as they were already half way into the tunnel that lead to small 'room'.

Setting the girl down and sitting next to her, he couldn't help but give the sad chuckle of, "I told you so."

"I'm s-so-sorry." She apologized in shivers, her arms wrapped around herself in a desperate attempt for warmth.

"It's okay. I shouldn't have suggested it in the first place…" Sora shook his head in regret before he wrapped his arms around the girl. Receiving a curious state, he questioned, "What? You didn't know body heat is the easiest and safest way to transfer heat?"

"So you would hug Ri-Riku if he was in my position?" She questioned back in a smirk, managing to suppress the majority of her stutters.

"Er…" Sora trailed off, realizing he had not really thought about that. Biting his lip in thought, he concluded, "I _guess_ if he was dying."

"Am _I_ dying?" She asked in a sarcastic laugh, giving another shiver as her body adjusted to the heat coming off of Sora.

Frowning at her joke, he answered seriously, "No. I just tend to worry about you more."

"Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't take care of myself." She quickly defended with a glare, shifting slightly out of Sora's grasp and forgetting about the bitter cold of her seawater drenched clothes.

Sighing, the brunette let out a loud and aggravated reply as he stared Kairi right in the eyes, "_No_! It's not that. I care a lot about you, Kairi; and I don't know what else I can do to make it any more obvious."

Taken back by his clear frustration and confession, Kairi blinked a bit in surprise and mustered the only reply she could, "You did the drawing…?"

Turning his head away, he stared at the dirt floor and nodded, "The day before we were suppose to set sail."

Letting a moment of silence pass, Kairi's heart threatened to burst out of her chest as she asked, "And did you see what I did?" He nodded again. "So I'm the 'stupid girl' you were talking about?" She had to grin at the irony.

Laughing and turning back to her with a smile, he corrected, "You're not stupid. Maybe a little slow…but not stupid."

Giggling, she questioned with a raised brow, "Thanks, I think?"

"Yeah." He answered with a still present smile before straightening his expression and asking, "So how are you feeling temperature wise? Any better?"

Her clothes were still a little damp, but overall much better than she was earlier. Without even thinking about it, Kairi replied, "I'm fine. But don't try to change the subject." Wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her head against his chest, she spoke quietly, "I love you."

"We come here to avoid all the clichés of Valentine's Day and look at this." Sora muttered to himself with a shake of his head before laying his head lightly on hers, echoing, "I love you too." Glancing into each others eyes, they leaned into each other and shared their first kiss.

Pulling away, Kairi pointed out with a sigh, "We should probably head back so I can change my clothes and just so everyone doesn't start spreading rumors that we ran away together or something stupid like that."

"I _guess_." Sora whined as he stood up and stretched, only having to lean back over to help Kairi up.

Walking out of the secret place hand in hand, the girl questioned in a pleading voice, "So you'll tell Riku, right? I feel like it'd be too awkward for me…"

"Ehh…"


End file.
